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The Void boys and I have been working away on their new single, Mind’s Not Home, which is now released, and linked below. Check it out. They’re an interesting and very creative pair, who are making a difference to a great number of young people who suffer from mental health problems of one sort or another. It’s fantastic to see the way in which they’re able to provide support and reassurance through music. It’s a genuine privilege to be involved as their producer.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to engineer and mix this beautiful piece of music for the hugely talented Oktoba. It has been released as part of the Folklore Sessions Vol 1, along with material from Jacko Hooper, Bess Atwell and George Ogilvie. More to come from this amazing artist…

Dieselle May has released her new single ‘Sweeter’. It’s a real privilege to work with her. She’s one of those artists with a really clear vision of what she wants a track to be, which is great from a producer’s point of view. I played some guitars on this too, which is always fun.

Dieselle made this video herself, with no prior experience, using an online app. It was a painstaking process, but it’s hard to release a single without a video these days, and Dieselle is one of those people who will find a way.

Her ability to promote her material to radio is testament to this perseverance: Over the course of the three tracks she’s released, she has amassed well over a thousand radio plays. She doesn’t do this with radio pluggers, publishers, a label or a big-budget marketing campaign. She does it purely with determination, communication and a solid product. I am in awe of her.

The track has been getting some great feedback, and has been described on air as ‘Stonkingly-good’ and ‘my favourite track of the week’, and currently sits at No.3 in the Radio Indie Alliance chart.

I’m so proud of the work we did on this debut single for VOID. The response has been overwhelming, and they’ve landed a sync on BBC America’s hit show ‘Killing Eve’. The show, starring Sandra Oh is getting stunning reviews, and the quality of the music highlighted. So, it’s a particularly great achievement for the VOID boys, and thoroughly deserved. More to come from us as a team.

I had the honour of producing this awesome band, an anonymous duo who make music for those who struggle with life in whatever way. Ache is getting an incredible reaction from fans on their Twitter feed @V0ID__ evidence that their music is truly providing a supportive connection for those who really it. They’re a hugely talented pair, and what they’re doing is genuine and worthwhile. Check them out…

I’ve been a bit quiet for a while – and this is because I’ve been tied up working on a project with a wonderful singer and writer – Fable. Ben Townsend (my co-conspirator in Man Kill Machine) and I are producing, and the three of us are writing together. It’s such a lovely, creative, flowing project to be involved in. We are very consciously putting ‘The Rules’ on the back-burner. It’s not a question of avoiding the commercial viewpoint, but certainly we’re not pandering to it… always a rather fruitless approach in my experience, because unless you rush things through, the world is a different place commercially than it was when you started. We shall be working on this for the next few months, and it’s a project I’m truly excited about – a record I feel lucky to be making.

It’s the 10 year anniversary of In Nothing We Trust. It was one of the greatest experiences of my past career to engineer this for producer Sean Genockey and the band. We all knew it was a special record, incredible talent – it came before its time, certainly in terms of the UK music industry. But it’s a record that quietly maintained a passionate following over the years. And now, on its anniversary, Blood Bunny Lark Hall is blasted out over the airwaves from none other than BBC Radio 1. It’s a bit surreal to see it finally achieve this sort of mainstream recognition.

Assuming that you have suddenly found yourself in a parallel universe, one where you’re desperate to find out what I think about music production and equipment, you can check out THIS piece in Headliner Magazine!

I’m extremely proud and thankful to have been nominated for a Music Producer’s Guild Award in the Breakthrough Engineer Of The Year category. There are two wonderful engineers, Manon Grandjean and Andrew Hunt also nominated, and I’m not expecting to win in February. But at the end of the day nomination is enough – it represents my peers checking out my work and saying to themselves ‘actually that’s pretty decent’ – and that means a lot to me. And besides, if you’re nominated for ‘Breakthrough Engineer’ of anything, then win or lose, you have by definition ‘broken through’ which in our industry is certainly a milestone. If they’d just have a ‘Slowest Breakthrough Ever’ category, I’d be taking that home for sure. Anyway. It’s a happy day and I really appreciate this nomination, and the people who also worked so hard on the projects that secured it.

Now look here...

Record Production
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Almost none of these comments are made up

“Jack was instrumental in helping us achieve the sound we needed for Walking On Cars, Foxes and James Morrison. He’s got an exhaustive knowledge of recording techniques but most importantly he is a great personality to have in the studio. It’s no good having the best mic's in the world if the vibe in the studio is all wrong. This is a well-deserved nomination, and just the start of many more to come, no doubt” - My Riot (Tim Bran and Roy Kerr)

“Jack made our whole experience in the studio so easy. He really knows how to deal with people and gets the best performance possible from you. His knack for tuning drums is incredible, we were in awe of him. Not only is he the best engineer but also is such a cool funny person. It was an absolute pleasure working with him and really hope to do so again" - Pa, Paul, Sorcha, Dan and Evan - Walking On Cars

"Battle Cry is stunning! It is such a pleasure to see and hear the band at peak performance. The audio is phenomenal! Absolutely the best live rock mix I have ever heard" - Frank Deganahl

"Stand by me sounds so ace. The mix has so much more life and personality compared to our original one...Brilliant work" - Sean Hennessy, Chungking

"...The stuff I've heard from Jack Ruston recently is just amazing. I like the cut of his jib" - Rich Aitkin, Nimrod Productions

"He listened to what we wanted to achieve and the way we wanted to achieve it, and then added his expert knowledge and guidance to ensure a great result. We now have the best sounding EP we have ever made as a band, and we would love the opportunity to record an album" - Beautiful Country

"Satisfactory Man kicks ass right from the get go" - Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music

"...Jack was a revelation: for the very first time in our band’s career, we had before us not only an extremely knowledgeable and professional engineer, but someone highly musical and sympathetic to the needs and vision of the recording musician – whether it be drums, bass or guitar. He made it possible, in the short time we had, not only to record but mix a kick ass EP full of blinding sounds that truly captured the sound of our band" - Paul Lisak - After The Ice

"...Jack was really able to capture the track perfectly with his mix. He kept the feel of the song and the nuances he put in the mix added to the vibe we were going for and brought new life to the chorus. He listened to what we wanted and had some great ideas for the production. We're delighted with it and would love to work with him again" - The Shruggs